Update on India’s States: April 25, 2018

The center has given in principle approval for a new All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Telangana; the Bihar cabinet approved subsidies to energy consumers; Cisco launched Cisco START to help small and medium enterprises in Gujarat; Haryana announced an increase in allowances paid to its employees in health and police departments and for female staff with disabilities; Sunsure energy commissioned a solar plant that will generate clean energy to power 8,000 urban households in Karnataka every year for 25 years; and more.

Center- State relations

The electronic e-way bill for inter-state movement of goods was rolled out in the second wave of six states on April 20: Bihar, Jharkhand, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Tripura, and Uttarakhand. Source:Financial Express

The center has given in principle approval for establishing a new All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Telangana. The center has begun to work with the state government on land acquisition. Source: The Hindu

Nothing critical to report this week.

The Bihar cabinet gave approved subsidies to energy consumers after the state regulatory commission had hiked the power tariff by five percent for 2018-2019. A total of $623.38 million has been sanctioned for giving subsidy to power consumers in the current financial year, $178.56 million more than last year’s subsidy for the same purpose. Source: Business Standard

The Bihar government decided to hand over its three thermal power plants to the central power sector undertaking: the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC). Source: Times of India

Delhi became the first to institutionalize a penalty on power distribution companies for a default with the approval of a proposal to penalize power distribution companies by 75 cents per hour for the first two hours and $1.50 for each subsequent hour of unscheduled power cuts. Source:The Hindu Business Line

Delhi power distribution company (Discom) BSES announced that it has signed separate agreements with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) to deal with different aspects of energy conservation, including educational programs and capacity building, and conduct research on Demand Side Management (DSM). Source:The Hans India

Gujarat government’s recently unveiled Science Technology and Innovation (SIT) Policy, which will be enforced for five years, aims at enhancing expenditure in special areas of societal and industrial needs by at least 1 percent of the gross state domestic product by 2022, while also stressing on sectoral approaches. Source: Daily News Analysis; In detail:Science, Technology and Innovation Policy of Gujarat

Cisco recently launched Cisco START, which is a product portfolio specifically designed to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Gujarat build their digital foundation and become globally competitive. Source: CXO Today

The Haryana government announced an increase in nine allowances paid to its employees in health and police departments and introduced a new one for its female staffers with disabilities, on the pattern of the Seventh Pay Commission. The change will commence May 1 and will include a special allowance for child care to female employees with disabilities. Source:Times of India

Sunsure Energy finished FY18 with commissioning of their largest turnkey solar plant project – a 20 megawatt (MW) (15 MW + 5 MW) solar power plant. Situated in the Harpanhalli Taluka of Davangeri district, this project is spread over 75 acres of land and will generate enough clean energy to power more than 8,000 urban households in Karnataka every year for the next 25 years. This energy will be delivered to BESCOM and HESCOM – two of the largest distribution companies in Karnataka – who will in-turn, distribute this to a host of industrial, residential and agricultural consumers of electricity in the State. Source:Economic Times

Nothing critical to report this week.

The Maharashtra cabinet approved a single window system to grant permission to those wanting to shoot films, television programs, serials, commercials, and documentaries on government land. Producers will need to apply online, with permission granted in 15 days. The system will start as a pilot project in Mumbai and may then be extended to the entire state based on the feedback received. Source: NDTV

The state government has now announced free domestic power connections under the Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Scheme, to 760,000 families, including 225,000 below poverty line (BPL) families. The move will benefit around 1.5 million families in Rajasthan. . The 860,000 households which are not covered under the Deendayal Upadhyaya scheme will be given connections under the Saubhagya Scheme, allowing families covered under the Socio-Economic Caste Census 2011 to be given free connections, while the rest of the families will be given connections at $7.50 in 10 installments. Source:Hindustan Times

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has extended total credit support of $2.2 billion to Rajasthan for 2017-2018, an official said. Rajasthan has been one of the biggest beneficiaries under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) of NABARD, under which NABARD disbursed total concessional loans of $280 million to the state government during 2017-2018. Source:Money Control

In its tariff order for the current financial year (April 2018 – March 2019), the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) has decided to allow the continuation of the banking of wind energy for existing projects. The banking facility allowed captive wind power generators to sell surplus power to distribution companies. Source:The Hindu

The Greater Chennai Corporation and the Brussels Capital Region signed an agreement for cooperation in the areas of urban development, sustainable development, Smart City project, and tackling global warming. The agreement also aims at tackling issues such as gender equality, women’s empowerment, strengthening emergency response mechanisms during natural disasters, child rights in the context of urban development, protection of environment, technology, and exchanges in facing administrative challenges. Source: The Hindu

In a major boost to the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami inaugurated a record of 45 power substations installed across Tamil Nadu at a cost of $170 million, which will hopefully reduce the number of complaints related to voltage fluctuations and power cuts. Source: Deccan Chronicle

Telangana chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao announced two percent reservation in state government jobs for sportspersons

The Government of India has launched Gram Swaraj Abhiyan, to promote social harmony and apprise rural communities of various government welfare schemes and initiatives. Low income households in 16,000 villages will be able to buy LED bulbs for a special price of 75 cents under the Unnat Jyoti By Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) programme until May 5, 2018.

Azure Power, a New Delhi-based solar power producer, announced it has commissioned a 40 MW solar power plant in Uttar Pradesh. The solar project, auctioned by state-owned Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), has been set up under the government’s National Solar Mission and is spread across 225 acres. Source:Economic Times

Uttar Pradesh State Industrial Development Corporation (UPSIDC) has started the process of taking back land previously allocated for industrial use that has been unutilised. Within 30 days of recovering such land, it should be reallocated to those who signed memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with the government during the Uttar Pradesh Investors’ Summit in February this year. Source: Times of India

Nothing critical to report this week.

Best of the Rest

Kerala

Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan launched the Pravasi pension scheme, which gives people from Kerala but living outside the state or country a pension of $30 a month. (People over 60 years of age are eligible for the pension.) To avail the scheme, one needs to pay $1.50 every month. Source:Times of India

Meghalaya

India has signed an agreement with the World Bank for a $48 million loan to strengthen community-led landscapes management in selected areas in Meghalaya. The project, which will run until June 2023, has three components: strengthening knowledge and capacity for natural resource management; community-led landscape planning; and implementation, project management, and governance. Source:Money Control